Coyote Bounty
By: Susan Deborah Schiller
The Daily Practice: To discover beauty and truth within the mystery of an ordinary day and to craft the experience in words.
"She didn't have handcuffs on," says a full-bearded man, wearing a black jacket with the insignia of the local fire department in bold red letters on his back.
"No, and she was chugging a bottle of beer," replies a woman seated next to him. Her blonde pony tail flips as she turns her head back and forth, speaking to men on both sides of her.
They are discussing a domestic violence event, a common occurence in this small town. It involves a negligent parent, a house fire and a severely burned child. Demons in the form of drugs and alcohol are sinking their fangs into another family.
The front door opens and two hunters, dressed in white and brown khakis enter the bar. A blast of cold air whistles in from behind them as they check in at the counter. It's 3 degrees outside but inside the bar it's toasty warm.
"Everyone's meeting out back," says the bartender. His round belly hugs the counter as he points to an open door behind the pool table. In front of him an elderly couple tenderly hug and say good-bye.
"See you at 8:30 for the rifle raffle, Fred!" says the bartender as the elderly gentleman slowly shuffles out the front door, his back bent with age.
Tonight is the annual Coyote Contest and my husband and I join the hunters outside the back door. Two men are hoisting a scale to the top of the porch and the first load of dead coyotes is heaped at the base of the steps. More hunters are lining their pickups in the alley, waiting their turn to unload the catch of the day.
It's a 24-hour hunt and the object of the contest is to kill as many coyotes as possible before the cows begin to calve. Along with the $150 entrance fee, several individuals have donated money for the contest. The winner is the one with the most coyotes and he or she takes home the bounty.
Coyotes are dangerous near ranches, and ranches are pretty much all we have in Eastern Montana. The coyotes watch the herds, spotting the cows that are in labor. Often the mother cows wander off to the edge of the herd, or sometimes they go to a secluded spot for privacy.
The coyotes wait and watch until the calf is birthed and then pounce on the newborn while both mother and calf are vulnerable. Sometimes they kill the mother, as well. One pack of coyotes can kill dozens of calves, so the ranchers have sponsored the annual Coyote Contest to protect their herds.
A man to my right says, "28.75 pounds." He's weighing each carcass. Another man, pencil in hand, logs the weight and the number of animals killed next to the hunter's name.
A tall hunter pulls the gray coyote by his rear legs and throws the body onto the growing heap of frozen carcasses. Its savage face looks even more ghastly in the moonlight, mouth gaping wide open with tongue unfurled like a flag over frosty fangs.
"Look at this f*cker," says a hunter squatting next to me as he grabs his coyote by the forelegs. The animal is so big all four legs are sprawled across the scale and its head keeps flopping on the ground. A bloody crater about 6-inches in diameter shows the damage a bullet can do.
Although coyotes are in the dog family, feeding them does not remove their instinct to hunt and kill. Even if you provide them with everything they need and want, they will still be killers in thought and deed.
I recall the ghostly howls a pack of coyotes make when they are on the prowl. It's the eeriest sound – like bloodthirsty demons shrieking, about to strike their prey.
"23.05 pounds," calls out the man at the scale. "Is that the smallest so far?"
"Nope, there's one 20 pounds. It might take the prize."
"Well, this one will take the prize for ugliest," replies a man huddled in the doorway.
"You ready to go back in?" my husband asks. I reply, "Yep, let's go."
This whole scene causes me to ponder deeply the way we handle human predators. Some of my most beautiful memories are of certain brave and wonderful people who stopped to pull a predator off of me, with a face-to-face truth encounter.
I think of all the cows in fields near and far and I wonder if they are feeling relief, knowing their human friends have come and removed a threat to their offspring. Men and animals working together, and a community that makes it work. I dare to believe we can create abuse-free zones for human families, too.
I dare to imagine, "What if…." the storytellers used Truth as a sword to penetrate the dark secrets where domestic violence hides?
It takes LOVE and TRUTH in ACTION, spiritual weapons that can protect our most vulnerable ones.
With all my love,
Sue
PS This story is a result of a fiction-writing prompt in which our assignment was to visit a coffee shop and write down snippets of conversation, crafting the scene of a story from those tidbits. Since we don't have a coffee shop in town I chose to visit a bar, and it just happened to be "Coyote Contest" night. Nothing is coincidence. This encounter gave me a lot to think about. Thanks for being with me here and I'd love to hear what YOU think 🙂
Susan Schiller knows how it feels to lose everything: marriage and family, church and reputation, finances and businesses, and more. Susan's upcoming, interactive memoir, "On the Way Home," tells the story of how she came to be known as "the most abused woman" her counselors had yet met and how she learned to navigate her way out of hell to a rich and satisfying life. In her lifetime, Susan has served in duties ranging from home school mom – to pastor – to full-time deliverance minister – and to Midwest regional prayer coordinator for a large international ministry. These days you can usually find Susan soaking in her favorite hot springs pool, reading a book (or several), blogging, baking bread, or hanging out with her family and friends. You can get a free copy of Susan's upcoming book, "On the Way Home" by registering here.
Copyright 2010-2014, Susan Schiller, http://TeamFamilyOnline.com. For reprint permission for any private or commercial use, in any form of media, please contact Susan Schiller.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I loved reading your work.
-Very wise 🙂
What an interesting story to illustrate your point. I like to believe that life's lessons will gradually change a person from wrong-doing to the full understanding of the consequences of their action.